Conventional cone-beam computed tomography systems incorporate a radiation source and radiation detector combination that can be positioned at specific locations around an object to be imaged. In operation, the information and data gather by the radiation source and radiation detector combination at each specific location is analyzed to generate a three-dimensional (3D) representation of the object to be imaged. In particular, the radiation source and radiation detector combination processes a plurality of projection images to create and construct the three-dimensional (3D) representation. The specific locations at which each projection image is acquired are provided by a motion control signal or control signal generated by a motor or drive controller. The motion control signal or control signal generated by conventional systems defines equidistantly spaced angular positions along a circular path followed by the moving radiation source and radiation detector combination. The plurality of projection images acquired at different angular positions in response to the motion control signal is then reconstructed via a conventional three-dimensional reconstruction technique such as filtered back-projection.
In operation, the plurality of projection images acquired at different angular positions may not be chronologically equidistant due to irregular or uncontrolled motion of the radiation source and radiation detector combination. For example, the radiation detector may have non-ideal properties that vary based on the chronological triggering of the radiation source and can result in degraded image quality. These variations in the chronological triggering of the radiation source can result in geometric distortions in the resulting three dimensional reconstruction of the object to be imaged. In an attempt to address and compensate for these geometric distortions, the radiation detector utilized in conventional systems is calibrated for different time schemes in order to address a wide range of possible imaging situations. However, these compensations require a compromise between the calibration effort and the overall image quality of the object to be imaged.